Ok, fine. Yes, I do drink occasionally as a post-op bariatric patient. Heck, I even had a beer this last weekend. But no, I’m not talking about that kind of bars here. I’m talking “snack bars”, protein filled and otherwise. I do tend to use them on a regular basis to get me through my day, to help take the edge off my hunger between meals. I figured it might be worth sharing a bit about the ones I tend to like.

One thing up front… even the so-called protein bars tend not to have a whole lot goin for them nutrition wise. Often they are simply candy-bars with soy crisps or other forms of soy protein thrown in to boost up the protein levels. Often they also have a ton of sugars.. if not they turn to sugar alcohols. While they are often touted as “meal replacements”, I don’t use them in that way. And calorie wise… these are not the sort of thing I would suggest for someone trying to lose weight. Most of the bars that fall in to this category run between 2-300 calories. As I said, I use them for between meal snacks, something to tide me over until my next planned, healthy meal.

I wrote a long time ago about a bar sold under the Snicker’s brand… I don’t remember the last time I had one of those. Where I used to work there was a small store across the street that carried them. I think I turned to them because they were easily accessible.

For quite awhile, I was on a kick where the Zone Perfect bars were my snack de jour. Actually, Target carries a generic version of them that’s a much better deal price wise, box of five for just under $4. The chocolate mint and fudge graham are my favorites. These things clock in at about 200 calories with about 14g of protein and nearly as much sugar. So if you dump, you’ll likely want to avoid them. Again, these are basically protein candy bars.

Lately, it’s been Clif bars – the variety pack from Costco; chocolate chip, crunchy peanut butter, and chocolate chip peanut crunch. I’ve gotta warn you right off the bat, these ain’t for everyone. They are high in sugar, around 25g per bar  mostly in the form of organic brown rice syrup. The various flavors average about 10g of protein and clock in around 240 calories. The ingredients are mostly organic, so I suppose an argument could be made that these are a healthier option than your typical candy bar. For me, I like the taste, and one of these will typically keep my hunger at bay for another couple hours. Cost wise, these things are over a buck a bar if you buy them solo in most stores. If you get the 24-pack at Costco though, you can get them for about 75 cents each.

Now the one thing about all the various bars out there … they appeal to your sweet tooth. Chocolate, fruity, etc. I was at a health expo a couple weekends ago and came across Journey Bars. These take snack bars in a different direction… savory. It’s kind of weird to think about, especially when you see the flavors; wasabi ginger, mesquite bbq, parmesan romano and coconut curry (my personal fave). But they really do work and are a very refreshing option. These are not “protein” bars at all, averaging just 6g per bar. Calories clock in at 200, plus or minus and about 5-6g sugar. The coconut curry is a bit higher with 10g sugar… I’m thinking from the coconut itself. I don’t think this is a bar I would eat all the time, but I would keep these around for something to have that’s a nice change of pace.

These guys are just growing, so if you can find them in a local store you’ll probably pay a couple bucks a bar. Online you can get a dozen for $19. Not cheap… but they are a very nice change of pace from the typical “candy” type bar out there.

Now this last weekend while I was in Portland the little shop off the lobby had a bar I ended up trying… and liking quite a bit. CoGoBar – an organic, gluten free “food bar”. The CoGo stands for Columbia Gorge, the bars are made Columbia Gorge Organic, an “honest-to-goodness family farm. Since 1989″. The store had three flavors, peanut chocolate chip, double chocolate, and my favorite of the three, almond banana. They also come in a hemp apricot and superberry. Again, these are not protein bars… averaging only about 5g per bar and they average about 180 calories and about 12g sugar. They’re made with a blend of amaranth, millet and quinoa… which could be why I like them so much! They don’t use refined sugars, getting their sweetness from pear puree and brown rice. I bought a couple of each flavor to bring home, though I am sort of thinking I should have stuck to just the almond banana. I like the others, but not quite as much. Oh yea, these are all vegan as well if you’re looking for something along those lines.

So there you have it… I don’t know if you’re looking for some options to help get you through until your next meal… but hey, I figured I would offer up my thoughts anyways! Oh yea… I do have to throw in a mention for my own home-made protein bars as well. I’d be remiss if I didn’t, right?

One of the vendor tables at the WLSFA Meet & Greet last month included Premier Nutrition, and like a good vendor does, they brought samples! They were pouring up samples of their ready to drink (RTD) protein shake that come in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

Now I’ll admit off the bat, I haven’t tried that many RTDs… cause honestly, nobody wants to buy a 4-pack or 6-pack and be stuck with something they don’t like. But over the last couple years there are a few that I have tried that just … well, let’s just say they’ve left a bad taste in my mouth. Literally and figuratively. You know what I’m talking about… that just plain blechy, proteiny after-taste. I still have one left from a 4-pack I bought about 6 months ago sitting in the fridge waiting for someone to pawn it off on. So yea, I actually kind of avoided stopping at their table for most of the day.

It was getting towards the end of the day when I finally did stop by and grabbed up a shot of chocolate… and was very pleasantly surprised. There was none of that protein-powder smell and no blechy after-taste. The chocolate flavor was subtle, not over powering, not too sweet. I stopped back again towards the end of the day, gave Charlene one of my FFD cards and checked out the package some more. She also gave me one of the strawberry shakes to take with me… and unfortunately I put it on ice Sunday night, planning to drink it Monday and spaced out, leaving it in my ice bucket as I checked out.

The drinks pack 30g of protein in to 11 ounces along with 2g net carbs (5 total) with just 1g coming from sugar (and no sugar alcohols!) along with 3g of fat for a total of 160 Calories. Not too shabby. They also pack about 25% of the RDI for most of your usual vitamins and they seem to be in pretty RNY friendly forms (such as Vitamin A Palmitate, Cynocobalamin for your B12) and the protein is whey based. So yea, it’s not going to replace a dose of your multi-vit, but it’s good to know that what it does give you is in a form that we can make use of. The stats seem pretty much the same no matter what flavor, and the only ingredient I’m really wondering about is the sunflower oil… not sure why that’s in there… but at just 3g of fat it can’t be that much.

They carry the chocolate at Costco, and according to their website also at Sam’s Club. Charlene said in the fall they carry the vanilla too, otherwise you can get any of them, including the strawberry direct from their website at premiernutrition.com – and no matter where you get them, they tend to run just over $1.50 per drink. Sam’s and Costco carry 12-packs or you can get 18-packs online.

Now, I did contact them after Vegas about donating to my Dash From Obesity fundraiser, and they did donate a case each of the three flavors… and she also sent me a case of the strawberry to try out as well as a box of their Titan High Protein Bar – I need to disclose they were sent to me free of charge. I also have to admit, I asked about their Titan Protein Cookies, and thought they were sending me those… I’m really curious about them cause oatmeal raisin cookies are one of my “weaknesses”. I was hoping for just one to try out to see if they’re worth ordering. I may have to break down and just order a box to try. I’ll do a write up about the bars another time though.

Anyways, back to the strawberry – like the chocolate, they have no aftertastes, it’s a light berry flavor. Oh, the consistency on these is… not watery, but they’re not a thick shake either. I suppose it’s on par with drinking a glass of skim milk, so in that regard I’m not sure that something like this would work as a meal replacement, just don’t see it as being all that filling for very long.

But, this would make a good choice for those early post-ops in the liquid stage, and later on a decent snack or good for after a work out to replenish some protein without a huge amount of calories.

Personally, I’ll plan on keeping some of these in the fridge for a something that’s ‘grab and go’ when I know I need to kick up my protein for the day or to toss in the cooler and have with when I’m out on the paintball field.

Photo Credit: Premier Nutrition (twitter – facebook)

Wow… so last month I hit the two year, post-op milestone. Now this month, Former Fat Dudes is hitting it’s own two year milestone.

See, before I started formerfatdudes.com I was blogging about my WLS stuff over on my personal site (which has been woefully neglected in recent months…). But then I got the weird idea about starting a site dedicated to weight loss surgery from a dude’s perspective. Actually the fact that I started inviting other dude’s along for the ride was more by chance than by design – see, the domain formerfatdude.com was already taken, so I ended up pluralizing the name… and since I alone am not a “dudes”, I figured I would try and get others to join in on the fun.

I’ve had a few other guys join in here and there… most recently Ian/Baka (by proxy anyways) and now Tom/Beariatric (who has his own great site, but is becoming a regular contributor here as well). I’m always open to having others jump in to the fray as well, I think it’s important for us guys to get our side of things out there – plus it’s less writing I have to do myself!

Anyways, speaking of less writing – I figured I would pull out the Way Back Machine and take a look at some of the posts from May of 2009 and 2010 – see, it’s an easy way for me to fill in some posting space here. Not only that, there may actually be something of use to someone that hasn’t been here before, that may just be starting out on their own WLS journey or may just be worth taking a look at once again.

May 2009

• Bariatric Advantage – my first review based on a sample pack of stuff I ordered from Bariatric Advantage
• Resistance is (Not) Futile – A quick intro in to using resistance bands for exercise
• Five Must Have Things For Your Post-Op Kitchen – A quick list off things I feel all post-ops need to make sure they have on hand

May 2010

• BTV Video: Turkey Quinoa Meatballs – one of my early BTV videos
• Go Ahead, Call Me Obese, I Dare Ya – A flashback of a flashback – reposted last year as something from my personal site the year before.
• BTV Video: Protein Bars – another Protein Cooking video.

image credit: Cake Picture Gallery

We’re going to try and post a simple mash-up of products we find to be WLS-friendly (or least tolerable), be they food, supplements, general products, what-ever. First up, some food stuffs…

Yea… it’s a Snickers. Well, made by them. Way too many protein bars just taste… gritty, with bad after-tastes, all fakey, and well.. crappy. Snickers Marathon Protein comes in two flavors, Carmel Nut Rush and Chcolate Nut Burst. I’ve only had the latter… but I like them.

Be warned though, this is not a snack food. This is something to have on hand for a really active day, or as a meal replacement. Check the nutritional stats and you’ll see what I mean…

One Chocolate Nut Burst bar is 2.82oz or about 80grams. It has 280 calories, 80 of which from fat (9g). Sodum 360mg, Total Crabs 37g – 17 of which are from sugars, and then Protein clocks in at 22g.

These bars are dense, chewy and flavorful… with a layer of peanut and almond in the middle of two layers of chcolate. Right now, the higher sugar count isn’t a big deal for me, cause I can usually only handle a couple bites of this at a time. It’s just that thick and dense.

I might get a half-bar down as an entire meal, but I typically keep one of these in the Jeep to grab a bite of here and there when I need a lil kick or to take the edge off my hunger between meals. I also keep one on me when playing paintball or when I was hiking while camping.

These things aren’t cheap either, around a couple bucks a bar. WalMart has the six-pack which saved quite a bit. Might be able to find them cheaper online too. Snickers also makes an Energy bar and a Nutrition bar. The Dark Chocolate Crunch Nutrition bar is supposed to be really good, and it’s got almost half the calories… but also only half the protein. snickersmarathon.com

Next… pretzels. The Kay’s Naturals ones are good… but to me they really don’t taste like prezels. I was shopping for a baked chip or cracker I could use with my lunches and such and I found these; Rold Gold Pretzel Waves.

They come in Cheddar, Buffalo Wing, and Parmesan Garlic, which I have. They have a light, crispy, pretzel taste with a hint of parmesan and garlic that is not overpowering by any means. I’ve had them as a small snack, as well as along with some tuna salad for meals.

They were about $3.50 for an 8oz bag, and a serving size is 1oz, or about 8 pieces. 6-8 of these along with about 1/3 cup or so of tuna salad was a very filling meal for me. The stats on that serving are as follows:

Calories 120 with 25 from fat (2.5g), 340mg sodum and 22g of carbs… with less than 1g of that from sugar and as a bonus there’s a whole 2g of Protein in there too.

These are nice treat. They are not something I’ll be eating every day… or likely every week… cause the carbs and calories are on the high end. But, as an option to say regular chips… well, I’d rather bring some of these with me to a party than indulge on some Ruffles, cause they’re baked and have no trans fat. I’m interested in trying the buffalo wing flavor and the cheddar… they may make good options over tortilla chips for future taco salads. Hit up the Frito-Lay website for more info.

Last up… Arnold Select Sandwich Thins. I discovered these pre-op, and they replaced me making my own bread for the last couple months before my surgery.

They come in white, whole wheat, seedless rye, and multi-grain. I’m partial to the multi-grain myself. They’re thinner than a hamburger bun, but work great for those typical sized frozen burger (turkey) patties. I’ve also used them as an alternative to tortillas for making pizzas when I want “thick” (well, thicker) crust. And I toast half of one occasionally for an open-faced egg sandwich for breakfast.

These come in an 8pack for $2.50-$3 depending on where you get them. Sams has a 16pack for about $5. Nutritional stats (least on the Multi-Grain) go like this;

100 Calories, 10 of them from fat (1g), 230mg Sodium, 22g carbs with 5g of that in Fiber and 2g in Sugars and a nide 4g of additional Protein.